“Executive Summary: Imperative Takeaways – Our review of hundreds of studies and interviews with 38 cyber and industry experts revealed an echo chamber, loudly reverberating what needs to be done to secure critical U.S. infrastructure against aggressive and targeted cyber attacks. Cyber is the sole arena where private companies are the front line of defense in a nation-state attack on U.S. infrastructure. When a cyber attack can deliver the same damage or consequences as a kinetic attack, it requires national leadership and close coordination of our collective resources, capabilities, and authorities.
Our Assessment – The National Security Council (NSC) tasked the President’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) with examining how Federal authorities and capabilities can best be applied to support cybersecurity of high-risk assets. We reviewed a comprehensive dataset of more than 140 Federal capabilities and authorities, demonstrating impressive depth and complexity of Federal resources. We believe the U.S. government and private sector collectively have the tremendous cyber capabilities and resources needed to defend critical private systems from aggressive cyber attacks— provided they are properly organized, harnessed, and focused. Today, we’re falling short…”
